(A) Application for a license as a small dealer shall be made in writing to the department of agriculture. The application shall state the nature of the business, the municipal corporation or township, county, and post-office address of the location where the business is to be conducted, the name of any employee who is authorized to act in the small dealer's behalf, and any additional information that the department prescribes.

(B) The applicant shall satisfy the department of the applicant's character and good faith in seeking to engage in the business of a small dealer. The department then shall issue to the applicant a license to conduct the business of a small dealer at the place named in the application. Licenses, unless revoked, shall expire annually on the thirty-first day of March and shall be renewed according to the standard renewal procedure established in sections 4745.01 to 4745.03 of the Revised Code.

(C) No license shall be issued by the department to a small dealer having weighing facilities until the applicant has filed with the department a copy of a scale test certificate showing the weighing facilities to be in satisfactory condition, a copy of the license of each weigher employed by the applicant, and a certificate of inspection by the department showing livestock market facilities to be in satisfactory sanitary condition.

(D) No licensed small dealer shall employ as an employee a person who, as a small dealer, dealer, or broker, previously defaulted on contracts pertaining to the purchase, exchange, or sale of livestock until the licensee signs and files with the director an agreement that guarantees, without condition, all contracts pertaining to the purchase, exchange, or sale of livestock made by the person while in the employ of the licensee. The director shall prescribe the form and content of the agreement.

(E) A licensed small dealer is not required to maintain financial responsibility or furnish proof of financial responsibility.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.42, HB 229, §1, eff. 10/17/2011.

Added by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §101.01, eff. 7/17/2009.